From Russia with love

We have been sailing in Russian waters since we crossed the International Date Line in the middle of last night, the uncomfortably rolling seas subsiding at around the same time. We’re also now south of the Arctic Circle.

I woke just before 5am and saw a very pretty sunrise starting to light up the sky. It has been some time since we saw the sun rising – it’s either been very, very early, 24 hour daylight or cloudy. But this morning was spectacular!

From deck 7 (one above my cabin’s deck and a great place for viewing the sky and sea), bright oranges, reds and pinks lit up the sky and reflected in the ocean. There were masses of birds flying around the ship – I recognised cormorants and kittiwakes, and there were other small black birds that joined in including two types of puffins.

This area of the northern Pacific is known for its marine life and diversity of sea-birds (2nd only to New Zealand). Because of the large land mass on either side of the Bering Strait, birds are unable to migrate. In addition the cold waters and consequent increased levels of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide, increase the volume of algae, driving the ecosystem that supports sea-birds and marine animals.

We were passing Cape Deshnev, Russia’s eastern-most point, when Cheli said that they had seen orca to starboard – they weren’t visible when we were looking but it was great to know that they’d been sighted. At this point I think we were all thinking that we’d probably never really see whales on this trip.

We rounded Cape Deschnev and headed towards Big and Little Diomede. These two islands are separated by about 2km at their narrowest point – the International Date Line runs between the two. Big Diomede is owned by Russia – Little Diomede is owned by the US. Both have buildings of various types and people clearly live on each. Our task, well the Captain’s, was to ensure that we stayed on the Russian side of the Date Line since we were not cleared to enter the US.

Standing on the bow watching for whales seems to engender bizarre discussions about life, the world and our place in the world. Today, because we haven’t officially entered Russia (this happens tomorrow), we are still on 18 September – although Russia is 19 September. Without going into too many details we decided that a photo of Little Diomede was in the past – and photos of Big Diomede are in the future, and we are almost “back to the future.” Yep – this type of chit-chat really does happen! As to whether there are secret lookouts and missiles hidden in the cliffs, well sometimes my imagination can run wild!

Of course this inane conversation is forgotten as soon as we see whale blows – and soon we did. Some were far away, and probably from bowhead whales that seem to stay below the surface. But soon we were seeing blows from humpbacks and the clear arch of their backs as they swam through the water, showing occasional tail flukes. There were 3 ahead of us and to one side – the Captain slowed the ship.

One of my first photos was of a “tail slap” – the whale lifted its tail out of the water, turned a little sideways and slapped it down hard on the water, the splash clearly seen without a lens. Fantastic!!

We watched them – soon we had them to starboard and as I walked down the side of the ship, I saw one breach – I yelled “breach” as its body flew out of the water! Magnificent – I missed the photo, but as Shane reminded me, I saw it! And then, because so many people were heading in the same direction, I saw the other two also breach, but was not able to photograph them.

Most people went inside while 7 of us stayed to watch them continue on their way. We could see blows in various directions – some close & some far away. Watching where birds are sitting on the water is a tell-tale sign of whales in the area – they feed on the “leftovers” that escape the baleen (filters) of humpbacks, bowhead and other non-toothed whales. There were clumps of birds in many directions.

Birds continued to land on the water, swoop by or simply fly high in the sky around us. Puffins were a treat to watch – they fly very fast, and are good swimmers. But when they’re sitting on the water with the ship bearing down on them at 12 knots, they madly flap their wings and feet to get out of the way, often running straight ahead of us instead of to one side. They are so full of fish that getting airborne is a problem, and we yell at them to get out of the way. Fortunately, we haven’t seen any injured, but I do have this image of them finally getting out of the way and sitting on the water panting, wiping their “brow” with a wing & wondering if the big black and yellow thing that chased them was some sort of alien!

As we left the Diomedes we saw masses of walrus on Big Diomedes shoreline – hundreds of them were hauled out on a narrow beach below the cliffs, while some were sitting in the water. They look so strange with their large tusks protruding from their whiskered faces.

Following lunch I went to a presentation from Yvonne on changing climate – very scary statistics. Then it was time to upload the photos from this morning, and delete a multitude of out of focus photos of birds, as well as those of distant whale blows!

Our “recap & briefing” was to be held at 5:00pm – but, as has been the case for the last 5 days, we had a sighting of whale blows, and the recap was delayed. The weather had deteriorated & light rain was falling – but the blows were still there when I got to the bow. Grey whales! I’ve not seen these before – and although the views weren’t spectacular, I could clearly see small tail flukes and their grey bodies sliding gracefully through the ocean.

There’s no doubt that we’ve seen more animals today than we have in the last 2 weeks. It has been wonderful to experience this as we can feel this journey coming to a close.

Tomorrow we arrive in Providenya in the early morning where we’ll clear immigration into Russia – this could take anywhere from 3 – 8 hours, a good time to run through photos once more. It will be Tuesday for us, and hopefully we’ll have time to sight-see once this is all done. The plan for Wednesday is still uncertain. Thursday we’ll be in Anadyr and travelling from the ship to the airport and on to Anchorage.

For now I look forward to seeing what more this area of Russia has to offer!